Innovative Leadership in Education with Dr. Sarah Stone
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Jeff Kubiak sits down with Dr. Sara Stone, Superintendent of Albany Unified School District in California’s East Bay, to discuss what it takes to lead meaningful change while building trust with a school community. With 32 years in education, Sara reflects on her journey from classroom teacher to superintendent and the lessons she has learned about leadership, collaboration, and putting students first. The conversation explores Albany Unified’s $63.8 million Measure L bond, which passed with 72% voter approval, and how the district is approaching facility upgrades, wildfire resilience,...
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The Role of Community Engagement in School Redesign with Dr. Robert Hunt
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Matt Rogers sits down with Dr. Robert Hunt, Superintendent of Upper Arlington Schools, to explore his experience leading major school facility projects and the district’s current $273 million bond initiative for two new middle schools and an early childhood building. Dr. Hunt shares lessons from 16 years as a superintendent, including renovating a 100-year-old historic building in Chagrin Falls, navigating a major facilities referendum in Illinois, and now leading Upper Arlington through a process built around extensive community engagement. The conversation dives into how the district...
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What Community Members Get Wrong About School Construction with Dr. George Hummer
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Kevin Stoller sits down with Dr. George Hummer, Superintendent of Frederick County Public Schools, to explore his journey from special education aide to school district leader, and the district's ongoing effort to build its fourth high school. Dr. Hummer shares how his mother's career as a special education teacher and his own experience working with students with disabilities shaped his empathy-driven leadership style. The conversation dives deep into the mechanics of planning new school construction — including the critical difference between "design capacity" and "program capacity," how...
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Leading Districts with Emotional Intelligence with Dr. Adam Swinyard
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Dr. Adam Swinyard, Superintendent of Spokane Public Schools and 2023 Washington Superintendent of the Year, joins the Jeff Kubiak to discuss leading one of Washington's largest districts through a rapidly shifting information and mental health landscape. Adam shares how Spokane centers everything on relationships, why transparency and "doors and windows" communication have replaced the old top-down model, and how the district's Engage in Real Life initiative and revised cell phone policy are tackling the youth mental health crisis. He also reflects candidly on lessons learned since becoming...
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Reshaping How We View School Campuses with Dr. Sharon Bradley
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Dr. Sharon Bradley, founder of Bradley Site Design and a landscape architect with four decades of experience, joins Matt Rogers to explore how school campuses can become powerful teaching tools rather than just backdrops. Sharon shares how her childhood in the English countryside shaped her belief in "environment as teacher," and explains her curriculum integration model — mapping specific lesson units directly onto campus features like whisper walls, bioretention gardens, and stormwater "raindrop journeys." She also discusses how early collaboration between landscape architects, building...
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Making Career Education Visible with Mark Shephard
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Mark Shepard, K-12 Advisor at BVH Architecture, joins Carla Cummins to share his unusual path from industrial tech teacher to school superintendent to architectural firm advisor. Drawing on his experience leading a transformative CTE center project in Fremont, Nebraska, Mark discusses how listening to local industry and students — not just assumptions from educators — reshaped a district's approach to career and technical education. He dives into the design choices that put CTE on display rather than hidden away, the partnerships with local businesses that created real jobs for students,...
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Facilities Leadership in a Fast-Growing District with Matt Wark
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Matt Wark, Chief Facilities Officer for Forsyth County Schools, joins Katie Jubenville to share his unconventional path from a struggling student written off by his own guidance counselor to leading facilities for one of Georgia's fastest-growing, top-performing school districts. Matt discusses how his personal journey through teaching, administration, and district leadership shapes his "houses, not buildings" philosophy of facilities management, and dives into how Forsyth balances explosive growth with maintenance, community trust, and cost. He also shares his perspective as president of the...
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Making Every Dollar Count with Jennifer Gibb
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Turning Campuses into Learning Tools with Orin Williams
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Inside Rock Hill's $336M Vision for Safer, Smarter Schools with Andrew Jones
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In this episode, Matt Rogers sits down with Andrew Jones, Executive Director for Safety and Emergency Management at Rock Hill School District (South Carolina), to explore how safety and design intersect in modern school construction. Andrew shares his winding path from youth ministry to law enforcement, teaching, and school administration before landing in his current role. The conversation dives deep into the district's new Sunset Park Elementary School project — a $336 million, 10-year facilities initiative — covering CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design), hardwired...
info_outlineKevin Stoller sits down with Dr. George Hummer, Superintendent of Frederick County Public Schools, to explore his journey from special education aide to school district leader, and the district's ongoing effort to build its fourth high school. Dr. Hummer shares how his mother's career as a special education teacher and his own experience working with students with disabilities shaped his empathy-driven leadership style. The conversation dives deep into the mechanics of planning new school construction — including the critical difference between "design capacity" and "program capacity," how Frederick County builds community trust through transparent data, and why involving every stakeholder voice (parents, teachers, students, county officials) is essential to a successful bond and building process. Dr. Hummer also reflects on team-building, situational leadership drawn from his coaching background, and why investing in students must remain the non-negotiable priority behind every facilities decision.
Takeaways:
- Program capacity vs. design capacity — A room's legal occupancy limit isn't the same as how many students it can actually serve well; specialized programs (special ed, ELL, CTE, kindergarten) mean real capacity is often much lower than code allows.
- Run schools at 85–90% capacity, not 100% — Like redlining a car engine, operating school buildings at full capacity year-round accelerates wear and leaves no room for enrollment shifts or new programs.
- There's no such thing as too many voices — Successful school construction requires input from county officials, principals, teachers, parents, and even students — genuine inclusion builds long-term community trust.
- Seek out your critics, not just your supporters — Dr. Hummer's willingness to sit down with a skeptical taxpayer and address misinformation directly turned an opponent into an advocate for the new high school.
- Situational leadership matters — Knowing when to encourage versus when to push for improvement (borrowed from his coaching background) is key to building strong, resilient teams.
About Dr. George Hummer:
Dr. George C. Hummer began serving as Frederick County’s Superintendent of Schools on
January 30, 2023. He is a native of New Jersey who moved to Virginia in 1994. He graduated
from Chancellor High School in Fredericksburg and received a bachelor of arts degree from
Radford University in 2005. Dr. Hummer also holds a master’s degree in educational leadership
and special education from the University of Mary Washington as well as a doctorate in
educational leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Hummer credits his mother, who was a lifelong special education teacher, with inspiring him
to pursue a career in education. He began his career as a special education teacher, athletic
director, and football and basketball coach at Battlefield Middle School in Fredericksburg. After
serving in those roles from 2005 to 2012, Dr. Hummer was named assistant principal at Rodney
Thompson Middle School in Stafford and served in that capacity for three years.
In 2015, Dr. Hummer was named the Supervisor of Student Services and Special Education for
Stafford County Public Schools. Four years later, he became Stafford County Public Schools’
Executive Director of Student Services and Special Education. In 2022, he was named that
school division’s Chief Student Support Services Officer.
As a teacher, Dr. Hummer was recognized with a Teacher of the Year Award and for improving
the performance of his students. As a central office administrator, Dr. Hummer has spent
countless hours supporting students, families and staff while working to develop better
procedures to help bridge the achievement gap for all students.
In 2021, the Virginia Council of Administrators of Special Education recognized Dr. Hummer with
the Mary Lou Wall Award for Early Special Education Leadership. The award recognizes
individuals who are in their first three years of leading a school division’s special education
services and exemplify five values: (1) Heart- the passion to serve, nurture and care; (2)
Leadership by example; (3) Honesty; (4) Creative thinking; and (5) Collaboration.
From 2018 to 2023, Dr. Hummer served as an adjunct professor of educational leadership and
education at the University of Mary Washington. He has also been a featured speaker at several
state meetings for the Virginia Department of Education.
Dr. Hummer is proud to remain actively engaged in the Frederick County and Northern
Shenandoah Valley communities. He currently serves on the boards of the Valley Health
Foundation, United Way of Northern Shenandoah Valley, Grafton School Foundation, and
Frederick County Education Foundation. He is also an active member of the Rotary Club of
Frederick County. Through these meaningful partnerships, Dr. Hummer enthusiastically supportsefforts that strengthen our students, education, health, opportunity, and overall community
well-being throughout the region.
Dr. Hummer, his wife, Charnell, and his step-daughter, Madison, live in Frederick County.
Episode 354 of the Better Learning Podcast
For more information on our partners:
Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) - https://www.a4le.org/
Education Leaders' Organization - https://www.ed-leaders.org/
Second Class Foundation - https://secondclassfoundation.org/
EDmarket - https://www.edmarket.org/
Catapult @ Penn GSE - https://catapult.gse.upenn.edu/
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